TALLAGHT ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK AT  WEST LEINSTER SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY
(by Ray Fitzsimons)

Tallaght AC athletes certainly made their presence felt in the West Leinster Schools Cross Country Championships at the Phoenix Park on Friday last. Qualification for the Leinster Championships required the athletes to secure a top 12 placing.

In the first race of the day five Tallaght athletes competed and Aisling Johnston strode away from the field to take the Junior Girls title in first place with Kate Whelan in 3rd, Sarah Bodie in 5th, Rebecca Game in 6th and Stacy O Connor in 7th. Johnston, Bodie, Game and O’ Connors’s placings were sufficient get the Team Gold for their school Colaiste De Hide.  This is a remarkable achievement for this school who have never had a representative team in any athletics championship.

Next up were the Minor Boys and Peter Fitzsimons made his school race debut one to remember when he finished second to secure the silver medal. His team mates from St Marks Community School didn’t let him down either as Ciaran Dunne finished 13th and Niall Forrester 22nd.

In the Intermediate Girls race Bronagh O Hanlon (St Marks C.S) also secured her place in the championships when finishing in 5th place while Tallaghts Sean Bolger was 3rd in the Intermediate Boys and Brian Gregan also qualified having finished in 11th place.

In the Senior race over 4K Robert Fitzsimons (St Marks) comfortably secured qualification with 4th and Tallaght’s David Somerville is also through having finished 8th.  Tallaght’s Anthony Lieghio  and Luke Coleman finished  a very respectable 15th and 18th in this race also.

Meanwhile at Belgard Community Centre on Sunday Tallaght AC hosted a Dublin Athletic Board Sportshall Competition for aspiring athletes aged 9-12. The event which lasted three hours was very well attended with athletes from Tallaght, Clondalkin, Bayside, Clonliffe, DSD, Brothers Pearse, WSAF, and others all having a brilliant afternoon away from the elements.

Dessie Shorten travelled to Nenagh yesterday to compete in the All Ireland Indoor Masters Championships and came away with two National Medals.

First he ran a fine 400M in 61 seconds to win the bronze medal and later the same day he lined up in the 3000M and won the silver medal with a good time of 9.52